


what in carnation

by zekewastaken



Category: (여자)아이들 | (G)I-DLE
Genre: (sorta) vent fic, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Angry Song Yuqi, F/F, Florist Minnie Nicha Yontararak, Fluff and Humor, Language of Flowers, The Author Regrets Nothing, a 'fuck you' bouquet for a very special fucker, channeling all my anger through Yuqi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:01:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27526531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zekewastaken/pseuds/zekewastaken
Summary: Working in a flower shop has its perks.But never in her wildest imaginations had she expected a fuming girl, who looks as lovely and vibrant as the healthiest sunflowers with her striking blonde hair, barging into her quaint shop at exactly 8AM just to slap a crisp 10,000 won bill on her marble-top counter and ask:“How do you say‘fuck you’in flower?"ORAn angry Yuqi stomps into Minnie's flower shop with a special request in mind.
Relationships: Song Yuqi/Minnie Nicha Yontararak
Comments: 2
Kudos: 62





	what in carnation

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to my incompetent, son of a bitch, brainlet of a groupmate, who helped make this near-3k, hatred-fueled word dump happen. **Fuck you, from the bottom of my heart**.
> 
> **This is also based on a [**Tumblr prompt**](https://cupidsbower.tumblr.com/post/145960730310/flower-shop-au).

Working in a flower shop has its perks.

In a way, it felt therapeutic to just tend to the flowers and rearrange them on display. And the domesticity of meeting customers, both regular and new, every day is truly a welcome experience. Especially when it comes to having casual small talk over a bouquet of flowers, with stories being exchanged about the happenings in their personal lives—good or bad, hopeful or tragic—before handing them the beautiful, fragrant bundles that have been made with meticulous care.

All in all, it provided a calm, relaxing atmosphere from the constant bustling of the outside world. That, and also some good money. Kim Minnie loves the tranquility that comes with her work, and can’t be any more thankful than to be trusted to handle the shop after her grandmother’s retirement.

But never in her wildest imaginations had she expected a fuming girl, who looks as lovely and vibrant as the healthiest sunflowers with her striking blonde hair, barging into her quaint shop at exactly 8AM just to slap a crisp 10,000 won bill on her marble-top counter and ask:

“How do you say _‘fuck you’_ in flower? It’s super important.”

Poor Minnie was almost startled out of her skin from the brash entrance, she nearly pricked her finger on the thorns of a velvet-red rose from someone’s _“Happy 14 th Anniversary!” _bouquet.

“Oh my God!” Minnie exclaimed, widened eyes meeting the furious hazels of the blonde beauty as she placed a hand over her racing heart. “I-I’m sorry. Did… did you just say _fuck you_?”

“In flower, yes.” The other girl confirmed while rapping her fingers on the counter. Not because she’s impatient (although that’s partly the reason), but her temper at a certain groupmate is boiling over the damn pot right now and she’s saving that blow-up for their meeting later. “At least, in the most _passive-aggressive_ way possible. You can do that, yeah?”

“Yes. Yes, of course.” Minnie replies quickly, worried that she might piss off the raging bull even further and have that anger misdirected on her instead. “If it’s alright with you, may I ask what it’s for?”

Blondie seems more than happy to vent about her current source of distress.

“So, my groupmate—this lousy-ass, oompa-loompa reject of an incel—hasn’t done shit in our midterms project that’s due in four days. Then he had the absolute gall to spam my Discord PMs and ask how our annotated bibliography was going, when the fucker didn’t so much as _open_ the Google docs link I’ve sent in our group chat a week ago. All I’m seeing from him is _Yuqi this, Yuqi that,_ and I have half the mind to just block his stupid face off my convo list.”

The girl, Yuqi, seethes with unbridled frustration, speaking as if this person had said something to offend her ancestors when she goes off once more.

“Like he deadass just seen-zoned my message without even bothering to provide a single, _helpful_ contribution to our paper, other than copy-pasting a PDF link to a 47-page article about something that isn’t even related to our topic! I swear to God, he must’ve been dropped as a baby and lost his braincells from it.”

Funnily enough, the perpetual scowl on her face looks somewhat adorable in Minnie’s eyes. Especially when her deep, raspy voice is clashing with her baby-doll features, which make her seem like a kid who’s throwing another tantrum. Fitting, really, although her anger is justified.

_Yuqi, huh? That’s a cute name._ The florist thinks with a hidden smile.

“I can pay extra, if I have to. I could care less about my bank account taking a plunge, so long as Oompa-Loompa knows how much I hate his fucking guts right now.” Yuqi growled, and Minnie is drawn to the way that her tenor voice rumbled in her throat.

“Alright. I’ll see what I can do. This is the first time I’ve gotten an order like this, so I’m a bit more than surprised.” Minnie humors with a husky laugh as she sneaks a few glances at her peculiar customer.

Long, gorgeous hair styled in slight waves, neutral-toned makeup that complimented her fair skin, stunning dark-brown eyes that are nearly almond-shaped, and the vague outline of lean shoulders beneath a washed-out denim jacket over a clean, white tee. A total girl-crush, in Minnie’s opinion.

While the florist has seen many attractive customers during her time of managing the shop, something about Yuqi and her overall vibe (if you looked past her sailor-level of swearing and seemingly hot-headed disposition) caught Minnie’s growing interest. But she shakes off these unnecessary thoughts in favor of searching her mental archives for a possible bouquet that would fit Yuqi’s… err, _requirements._

“Sorry if I’m being rude. And for, uh… acting like some bitch or whatever. I’m not very good at handling my temper.”

Yuqi suddenly apologizes while running a hand through her dyed hair, looking a bit sheepish after calming down from her agitated outbursts, and Minnie froze for a moment. Entranced by the blonde’s fluid movements as a few rogue strands fell over her face in such an aesthetic, almost picturesque way.

If Minnie had to describe the personification of _Amaryllis_ , it was right before her.

“That’s okay.” She flashes her a kind smile. “I’m sorry you have to deal with such a troublesome groupmate though. Must be hard.”

“Definitely. God, you have _no_ idea.” Yuqi lets out an irritated huff, but her lips pull back slightly into a half-grin that has Minnie’s heart skipping a beat.

Flustered, the florist distracts herself behind the counter to grab the flower guidebook for reference. Flipping through the pages and listing down the handful of choices that would suit the arrangement she has in mind.

“Do you want to add a card to your order?” She then offers politely.

“Hell yeah. I got a message for that fucker, and damn right am I going to be sincere about it.” Yuqi’s wrath is switched on again, but thankfully to a much lesser degree.

Minnie gives her an amused chuckle. “What message do you want me to put on it?”

“Unless you square up and do your shit like you’re supposed to, you’re getting a big fat F in your peer evaluation. F because you’re _FUCKING USELESS_. Make that all caps, please—and bold as possible.” The blonde tells her. Then, as an afterthought, she adds: “Sincerely, Song Yuqi. Aka, the one who’s carrying your freeloader ass because no other group wants to take you in.”

Out of all the customers Minnie has dealt with—nerve-wracked admirers, hopeless romantics, and poetic partners—she’s never met anyone as painfully straightforward and blunt as Yuqi. It was quite refreshing, to say the least.

“And what about the name of the recipient?”

“ _Oompa-Loompa._ ” Yuqi answers right away. “Short as my temper and small as his dick-size. Because he acts cocky, but has nothing to show off.”

Mellifluous laughter escapes past Minnie’s pink rosewood lips. “Creative. I like that.”

“Thank you. Finally, someone who recognizes my genius.” Yuqi spreads her arms dramatically, which draws out another laugh from the florist as she starts prepping the order.

Minnie weaves around the counter and through the sea of exotic flowers in the shop, plucking out the right ones and eyeing them critically, while Yuqi watches her from where she’s leaning against the counter. The girl can hear Minnie mumbling out the names of each flower she picked up, and couldn’t suppress the smile that appears when the latter comes back with the perfect combination in her grasp.

“I think these will do the job nicely.”

The florist then gestures at the colorful bundle she’s holding up.

“So, here we’ve got Geranium for _‘stupidity’_ , Meadowsweet for _'uselessness’_ , orange lilies for _‘hatred’_ , and some yellow carnations for _‘you have disappointed me’_. I even threw in a couple of Narcissus flowers too. Named after the hunter in Greek mythology who was so vain, he fell in love with his own reflection in a river. They send that _‘you only care about yourself’_ message, which seems to fit how selfish he’s being by letting your group carry all his workload for him.”

She explains the meaning for each flower to Yuqi, who gives her a definitive nod, before retreating behind the counter to wrap up the customized bouquet—until the blonde requests if Minnie can use a brown ribbon instead of the usual white or red.

“Brown is the color of shit, and he’s a piece of shit. Just want to get that message across too.” Yuqi wore a proud grin at this, which prompts a small giggle out from the ever-amused Minnie.

“Got it.”

It doesn’t take long for the flowers to be wrapped up meticulously, nestled in a clean, plastic wrap with the brown felt bow holding them all together. Minnie carefully places it on the counter where Yuqi is waiting, and rings up the bill for her to pay.

“To think, I’d actually go out of my way to spend more than 10k on a _‘fuck you’_ bouquet.” Yuqi says with a hearty chuckle. “It’s really beautiful though, not gonna lie.”

Minnie leans over the counter with a cocked brow and a haughty smirk. “Pretty good for my first attempt at making one, huh?” She quips playfully. “A bouquet telling someone that they’re a stupid, self-centered, unreliable sack of shit and you hate them? I think that’s as direct as flowers can get.”

“Yeah, definitely. Thanks so much… _Minnie._ Kim Minnie.” Yuqi reads off the silver name tag attached to the florist’s green apron. “Nice name, by the way.”

Said girl blushes from the charming grin directed towards her, and the way her stomach did a flip at the little compliment. “T-Thank you. Your name is… it’s really nice too. Song Yuqi, right?”

“Yup.” The other girl does a small popping sound with her mouth. “Hot-head extraordinaire. At least, when it comes to freeloading groupmates.”

They share a light-hearted laugh after that, before Minnie goes to write Yuqi’s _not-so pleasant_ message on a white card with a ballpoint pen. However, she quickly stops her again with another request. “Actually, can I do that instead? I’m gonna write super hard so that it dents, and the fucker can see just how mad I was when I wrote it.”

Minnie stifles another laugh. “Be my guest.” She says while sliding both the card and pen over, mirth dancing behind her turquoise eyes as she observes the determined look on Yuqi’s face.

She’s never seen anyone look so… _passionately aggressive_ when writing something, so it’s more than entertaining to watch how Yuqi pours all of her bottled-up anger into scrawling down each word in thick, jagged lettering.

Once she was finished, Minnie tapes the back of the card and sticks it just above the bow. Right where it can be seen in all its outraged glory.

“All done.”

She assumes that Yuqi would take her leave after grabbing her purchase, but the blonde surprises her yet again by asking one more thing: “How do you say _‘I want to take you out on a date’_ in flower?”

Somehow, the question deflates Minnie’s mood a bit as her heart sank. And she can’t help but wonder who the lucky person is to have captured Yuqi’s interest enough to make her buy a special bouquet for them. Granted, she just met the girl—but Yuqi is like a breath of fresh air during the early days of spring, and perhaps she wanted more of that. Of _her._

“If you’re going for traditional, I’d say roses.” The florist answers anyway. “But if you want something different, you can try either red tulips or gardenias. White camellias fit the bill as well, though I’m biased with the pink ones. They’re my favorite color, and it represents _‘longing’._ ”

Yuqi mulls over them thoughtfully. “Yeah… I guess I’ll go for the pink ones too, but just a single flower. I don’t want to come off as too overly-ambitious and scare them off.”

Minnie nods, although a little dejected. “Can’t go wrong with being a little extra, but I get that. Be right back.” She turns to the display of pink camellias next to her and fishes out the prettiest one from the bundle, with the brightest petals and the sturdiest stem, before handing it to Yuqi in gentle hands. Whoever she’s giving it to deserves the nicest pick of them all, right?

“Thanks, Minnie. You’re a real help.” Yuqi tells her after paying for it, _‘fuck you’_ bouquet in one hand and a pretty, pink camellia in the other.

“Anytime, Yuqi. Hope to see you again.”

(She really means it.)

A giddy sensation blooms in her chest from the endearing smile Yuqi gives her, and Minnie returns it with one of her own (it’s probably more lovestruck than anything) as she watches the blonde leaving her shop before disappearing around the corner.

_Time to get back to work._

The florist sighs wistfully and starts tending to some flower arrangements for a _“get well soon!”_ bouquet. Trying not to dwell so much on the color yellow, or how it reminds her of a certain sunflower girl with the hair to match.

* * *

It’s been a couple days since that fateful encounter, and Minnie can’t seem to get Yuqi out of her mind. Even when she attempts to distract herself by doing work (she even went as far as to color-code the vast array of flowers in the shop), her thoughts drift to the blonde bombshell whose radiant smile can put even the sun to shame.

Lord knows how silly it is for her to be crushing on someone. More so a girl whom she barely knows outside of her temperamental mood swings—from being outright furious to straight-up witty—and a name that Minnie had practically (and hopelessly) engraved in her heart.

_You’ll get over it soon._ She tries to convince herself. _It’s just a silly little crush anyway._

And besides, Yuqi already seems to be interested in someone else. Might as well move on with her life, instead of pursuing what she deems _“a useless endeavor”._

But fate, for as convenient and complicated as it is, has other plans for the florist.

It was near closing time when Minnie had just finished wrapping up an order for a despondent man hoping to make amends with his estranged wife (and nothing says _‘I’m sorry’_ better than a purple Hyacinth bouquet), when the entrance bell rings to signal a new customer.

Minnie, having fulfilled her last client request for the day, turns to inform them that the shop is closing—only to have the words lodged in her throat upon seeing the familiar form of Song Yuqi standing in front of the counter. Dressed in a simple, black sweater and a pair of light-blue jeans, with her lustrous blonde mane tied in a neat ponytail.

“Y-Yuqi! Hi!”

Minnie blurts out like an idiot as she hastily straightens her back in the girl’s presence.

“Um… surprise visit?” She asked with flushed cheeks, hoping that her excitement isn’t too obvious when Yuqi nods at that.

“Yeah. I just wanted to come by and tell you that the flowers worked out surprisingly well.” For whatever reason, Yuqi has one hand hidden behind her back. But Minnie doesn’t think too much of it. “I don’t know if Oompa-Loompa figured out the meaning behind them, but he read the card and he’s finally helping us out on the presentation this time. So, I think we’re pretty good.”

“That’s great to hear.” Minnie says earnestly. “I’m glad things are going well for your group now.”

Yuqi hums while looking down at her sneakers momentarily, which caught the florist’s attention as she frowns. “Is there… something else you want to tell me?” Minnie adds, sounding a bit concerned when she notices the hesitation in the blonde’s movements.

“Uh, yeah…” Yuqi looks back at her with hazel eyes filled with nervousness. “Remember how I asked you about the kind of flower to give someone you want to date?”

“Yes, why?” Minnie probes slowly, wondering if _that_ has worked out for her too and trying not to sound so crestfallen about it. “Were you able to give it to them?”

She gets her answer when Yuqi withdraws the hand from behind her back to present Minnie with a pink camellia flower—the very same one she had bought just a couple days ago—but with a little slip of paper attached to the stem. Written across it in clean, black print are the words _“Would you like to go out with me?”_ , and the initials _S.YQ_ signed at the bottom.

Minnie’s eyebrows shot up as shock flooded her features, and Yuqi presses on in spite of the anxiety that’s gnawing at her insides.

“I was sorta hoping that, you know, if you don’t have any plans right now… maybe you’d want to join me for dinner tonight?” She fumbles with her words while rubbing her nape shyly. “I really enjoyed our conversation last time, and I’d love to know you a lot better. I-I mean… if that’s alright with you, of course.”

In the midst of her rambling, Minnie had tentatively reached out to take the offered flower in her grasp. Twirling it in her hands and inspecting it with a soft, bashful smile on her face.

“I’d love to.” She finally says, taking one of Yuqi’s smaller hands in her own and giving it a gentle squeeze, before laughing at the stunned look she receives from the flustered blonde. “Just give me a moment to lock up, okay? I promise it won’t take too long.”

A warm, fuzzy feeling then blossoms inside of her from the beaming smile Yuqi gives her, and Minnie is damn certain that her cheeks are now the color of the pink camellia she’s gifted her.

“Take all the time you need, flower girl. I’ll be right here.”


End file.
